Am I getting snowed? HH in North Texas

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Hi Im a LVN with 3 yrs experience in only LTC. I'm currently studying for my boards to get my RN but I'm not a GN anymore. Ive always been interested in HH and I've been doing it for 3 months and I like it. However after talking to a pal of mine I was wondering that it seems like my pay is low.

I make 20/hr PRN and that includes car/mileage which is 2/hr so 22/total. I like my job, love the company etc but that is not going to pay my bills. Some of my patients are like 30 mins away, I was making 19.50 at a nursing home this is barely above that. Where it seems like other places pay like $25 and up. I feel like since I'm new to HH that I didnt know any better? I want to do this full time so Im considering going to other agencies cause Im not getting enough pts here and the pay is low.

What are you thoughts and should I put down this current job on my resume for experience? I intend on keeping it for now and also I always put neg when they ask about pay should I put an amt or leave it blank not boxing myself in? I guess what do I neg to the next hh agency and what would be considered a fair price for North Texas and my experience or lack thereof.

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Cannot speak to north TX area, but that is a low figure. The lowest that LVNs make on per visit rates is usually around $25/visit in general and that is for the cheapskate employers. Believe that they took advantage of you and you can probably do better if there are other agencies in the area. Good idea is to call an agency and ask their pay rates without giving your name before you go to the office to apply for a job.

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Thanks for your reply and I'm going to do just that.

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LVN visits at $20 per visits is LOW!! The Houston agencies I have worked at paid $40 for LVN's, $50 for RN's. But your mileage reimbursement is where you are really getting screwed. There are a lot of agencies that pay mileage for per visit employees, which I think is like 44 cent a mile. If they don't pay you need to add all you mileage and take it as a tax deduction at the end of the year. With them giving you $2 extra a visit I don't know if that screws up you being able to deduct the miles on your taxes. I worked for a corporate Home Health company that pays their RN's $67.50 a visit for a SOC, trust me I would never take that rate. Couldn't hire any nurses that would stay. The owner of the company I work for now said" I usually pay $100 for a SOC but the nurses say Oasis C is more work, how much more do YOU think I should pay?" Plus a car to drive while you do visits, only likes to hire full time people, no one stressing in the office and I haven't even heard what the productivity is. I guess what I'm saying is it pays to talk to everyone you know to find out rates and how the company is to work for. There is a lot of variability and there are actually some good agency owners out there. I never stayed at a job that sucked!!

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Thanks Tejas for the response, I am currently looking at other companies and this way I know what to ask for pay wise and I wont repeat this mistake again. So far the most I've heard from another friend of mine is $30 to even $35 so I'm going to keep looking till I can get a acceptable pay because this is not it. And I was taken advantage of but never again no matter how 'nice' they are.

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wow. I work in a small town and am an LPN and getting paid $16/visit with like 37.5 cents/mile. This sucks! i really had no idea what the "outside" world pays. But there is an upside, after three years of PRN, i get 17/visit!:D

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Specializes in med-surg,ltc,home health.

Are you being paid 20 per hour or 20 per visit? If they are paying your travel time then 20 per hour is a fair payment. I am an RN and am paid 40 per regular visit with a 7 dollar trip fee if it is the second or more visit of the day. No trip fee for the first visit of the day. And if it takes me 45 to an hour to get from one visit to the next that is not paid for. So I think 20 dollars per hour is not bad. I work in the Fort Worth area of Texas.

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I am interested in Home Health nursing. What exactly does the RN do? Just admissions or do they have to do patient care also?

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I am interested in Home Health nursing. What exactly does the RN do? Just admissions or do they have to do patient care also?

Nurses can choose between extended care, or shift work, and intermittent visit type work. Some agencies do both, but some do only one or the other. There are RNs who choose to do extended care, as well as those who do the standard opening, closing of cases, basically case management. In extended care, these RNs usually are in a supervisory role. Whereas, in intermittent visit type work, the RN may or may not have standard visits as well. Might depend on the size of the agency and their caseload as well as the number of RNs they have employed for the different job roles.

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wow. I work in a small town and am an LPN and getting paid $16/visit with like 37.5 cents/mile. This sucks! i really had no idea what the "outside" world pays. But there is an upside, after three years of PRN, i get 17/visit!:D

Yeah but I wonder what the cost of living is in your area....NJ i have read pays the most of any state for nurses, but i know that they have one of the highest cost of living too...its all relative:)

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Yeah but I wonder what the cost of living is in your area....NJ i have read pays the most of any state for nurses, but i know that they have one of the highest cost of living too...its all relative:)

I guess our cost of living is decent. 3 bedroom houses rent for about 800 +/-. My check pays for my car payment and daycare and elec. My husband foots the rest of the expenses. Thank God he has a good job. I could not support my family on my pay.

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I guess our cost of living is decent. 3 bedroom houses rent for about 800 +/-. My check pays for my car payment and daycare and elec. My husband foots the rest of the expenses. Thank God he has a good job. I could not support my family on my pay.

Lucky you!! For sure! In pa we can get a 1 bedroom apt (u know a resonable one with clean carpeting and ect for about 700-800 these days. I am so over this state right now, LOL :)

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